The 10th instalment of the French Film Festival UK will get underway on Nov 16 with an Amelie-like air of optimism.

The festival includes screenings of Eric Rohmer's The Lady And The Duke (L'Anglaise Et Le Duc), Gabriel Aghion's Absolutely Fabulous (Absolument Fabuleux), Claude Miller's Betty Fischer And Other Stories and Francis Veber's The Closet (Le Placard) among the French fare on show.

The event, which runs until Dec 2, is the only UK festival devoted entirely to French cinema and is held in five venues throughout England and Scotland. Festival organisers are this year hoping that the "Amelie effect" will help galvanise UK audiences into the cinema. "There couldn't be a better time to be celebrating French cinema," said festival director Richard Mowe.

The festival will also host a focus on outsiders in French cinema, with screenings of films such as Zaida Ghorab-Volta's Jeunesse Doree, Abdellatif Kechiche's La Faute A Voltaire, Fabrice Genestal's La Squale and Mehdi Charef's Marie-Line.

Guests lined up to attend the event include Miller, Aghion, Anne-Sophie Birot , Fabrice Genestal and Thomas Gilou.